Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Donnell.
Hi Kayla, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always been a creative, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself throughout my journey, it’s that I was never meant to fit into one box.
I’m originally a military kid from San Antonio, Texas, and I moved to Houston in 2019 to attend Texas Southern University, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Theatre with a concentration in Performance in 2023. I originally came to Houston with a passion for performing and storytelling, but my time at TSU ultimately opened my eyes to how much I loved the entire creative process—not just being in front of the camera, but everything it takes to bring an idea to life.
During my final year of college, I began interning with Music World Entertainment, founded by Mathew Knowles, under the company’s Head of Business Development, Rishi Sood. That experience became one of my first real introductions to the business side of entertainment and helped expand my understanding of what my place in this industry could look like. I was able to see that creativity and business don’t have to exist separately, and that some of the people I admired most were the ones who understood how to connect the two.
From there, I kept following my curiosity. My journey has taken me through PR, media, social media strategy, content production, photography, videography, creative direction, film production and the music industry. Along the way, I’ve had opportunities to work around projects and talent including BigXthaPlug, That Mexican OT, Shoreline Mafia, Monaleo and others. Every experience has added another layer to the creative I am today.
Currently, I serve as Head of PR & Media for 1500 Entertainment, but like most things in my career, my role doesn’t stop at one title. I work closely alongside our Founder and CEO, filmmaker **Ali Abdin**, as his executive assistant, social media manager, content strategist and content producer. One day I may be developing a campaign or producing a content day, another I may be working on publicity, assisting with a film project or helping execute something completely new behind the scenes.
Ali has also become an incredible mentor to me. He has really taken the time to pour into me, challenge me and help shape my understanding of filmmaking, producing and the business of entertainment. We’re currently developing some exciting things behind the scenes at 1500, and being able to learn while simultaneously contributing my own ideas and skill set has been an important part of my growth.
Outside of 1500, I’ve built my own freelance creative business, ScenesByKay. Through ScenesByKay, I work in photography, videography, event and behind-the-scenes coverage, content creation, creative direction and content strategy. One of my favorite parts of what I do is sitting down with someone who has an idea—even if they don’t completely know how to articulate it yet—and helping them figure out how to bring that vision to life.
That love for creating and connecting people is also what led me to become a co-founder of **The Kollective**, a Houston-based creative community and growing media network built around the idea to **Create. Inspire. Grow.** The Kollective was created to bring creatives together, give people room to share their gifts and ideas, and build genuine community around creativity, faith, conversation and collaboration. Community has always been extremely important to me. I don’t just want to create things for myself; I want to help build spaces where other people can create, connect and grow too.
When I look at everything I do now, I don’t really see a collection of unrelated jobs anymore. There’s a common thread through all of it: **I love creating, I love people, and I love bringing visions to life.** Sometimes that means bringing my own idea to life. Sometimes it means helping a client tell their story. Sometimes it’s connecting the right people in a room. Sometimes it’s producing content, shaping a brand, developing a strategy, capturing a moment or helping build an entire project from the ground up.
For a while, I felt like being multifaceted meant I would eventually have to choose which version of myself I wanted to be. I don’t believe that anymore. I’m passionate about a lot of things, and I’ve realized that my versatility is actually one of my greatest strengths. My background in performance helps me understand talent. PR taught me how to communicate and position a story. Social media taught me strategy and audience. Photography and videography taught me visual storytelling. Content production taught me how to take something from an idea to execution. And building community has taught me that sometimes the most meaningful thing you can create is an opportunity for someone else.
Ultimately, one of my biggest goals is to become an executive producer, develop and produce film and television projects, and eventually lead a successful production company of my own. But even that isn’t the end of who I am or what I want to create.
At the core of everything, I’m simply a creative. I want my life and career to be filled with things I’m passionate about, stories worth telling, visions worth bringing to life and people worth bringing together. I’m still learning, building and becoming in real time, and instead of waiting until I’ve “made it” to share that story, I’m learning to embrace the process as part of the story too.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Absolutely not. LOL. I think one of my biggest lessons has been learning that being passionate, genuine and willing to help people is a beautiful thing, but without boundaries, those same qualities can leave room for people to take advantage of you. I’ve had experiences where I gave far more of my time, energy, creativity and skill than I was valued or compensated for, simply because I cared about the person or the project and wanted to see it succeed. Those experiences were difficult, but they taught me that I can still lead with generosity and community while also advocating for myself. I’ve also had to become more intentional about the opportunities I accept. There was a time when simply being on set or being attached to a project felt like enough. Now, I understand that every opportunity isn’t necessarily the right opportunity. I would rather pour myself into work where there is genuine care for the craft, mutual respect and an intention to create something meaningful than collect credits just for the sake of saying I was there.
There have also been very personal challenges behind the career journey. In 2023, before I finished college, my dad suffered a stroke. Being in Houston while my family was back home was incredibly difficult because every part of me wanted to go home, but my family continued encouraging me to finish what I started and build the life I came here to build. As the oldest of two daughters, I carry a very real desire to create stability, generational wealth and something lasting for my family, and sometimes that creates a pressure I’m still learning how to navigate. Add in the financial highs and lows that can come with building a career as a creative, and there have definitely been seasons where believing in the vision required more from me than I expected. But Houston has also taught me the importance of creating family wherever you are. I’ve intentionally built community here and surrounded myself with people who have become my chosen family. I think the struggles have ultimately taught me that building the career and life I want isn’t only about how talented I am—it’s also about boundaries, discernment, resilience, community and learning to value myself just as much as I value the work and people I pour into.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At my core, I specialize in storytelling and bringing visions to life. That can look different depending on the project—PR and media strategy, content production, social media strategy, creative direction, photography, videography or helping develop an idea from concept to execution. Through my role as Head of PR & Media at 1500 Entertainment and through my own creative business, ScenesByKay, I’ve been able to work across multiple sides of entertainment, and I think that versatility has become one of my greatest strengths.
I would say what I’m becoming known for is being someone who can see the bigger picture. I don’t just think about whether a piece of content looks good; I’m thinking about what story it tells, how it represents the person or brand, who we’re trying to reach, how we can position it, and what we can turn it into next. My background in performance helps me understand talent, my PR experience helps me understand messaging and positioning, social media has taught me audience and strategy, and production has taught me how to actually execute the vision. I’m also very intentional about getting to know the people I work with. I never want someone’s content or brand to feel like something I could have copied and pasted onto another client. I want to pull out what is authentic and special about *them* and build from there.
What I’m most proud of is the trust people have placed in me. Whether someone is trusting me to tell their story, represent their brand, capture an important moment, develop their content, help build their project or simply figure out how to turn the idea in their head into something real, I don’t take that lightly. I’m proud of the credits and opportunities I’ve earned, but I’m even more proud that my work has led to relationships, referrals, repeat opportunities and people continuing to bring me into rooms because they know how much I genuinely care about what I’m creating.
I think what ultimately sets me apart is that I’m not interested in creating just for the sake of creating. I care about intention, connection and impact. I’m naturally someone who sees possibilities—within an idea, within a person and sometimes within something they haven’t fully figured out themselves yet. Give me the vision, even if it’s still a little messy, and one of my favorite things to do is help figure out how we make it real.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was always very imaginative, expressive and creative—I just didn’t know to call myself a “creative” yet. LOL. I was homeschooled until eighth grade, so a lot of my childhood was spent with my sister finding ways to entertain ourselves and our family. We would make up dances and perform them for our parents, and dance became one of my earliest creative outlets. I danced in church growing up, joined dance when I started traditional school in ninth grade, continued throughout high school and even danced during my first couple of years in college. Eventually, I traded dance for film, but looking back, storytelling and performance were always present in some form.
Career-wise, my dreams changed constantly. For the longest time, I was convinced I was going to be a fashion designer. Then there was a period when I wanted to become a lawyer. I’ve always been interested in so many different things, and when I was younger, I probably thought that meant I just couldn’t make up my mind. Now I realize it was actually an early indication of the person I would become. I’ve always been curious, passionate and drawn to creating—whether that meant designing something, performing, telling a story or imagining something that didn’t exist yet. The medium has changed throughout different stages of my life, but the common denominator has always been creativity. I think younger me would be fascinated to learn that there was actually a career—and an entire life—I could build around all of those different parts of myself instead of having to choose just one.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kreativelykaysbk.my.canva.site/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kreativelyykayy?igsi=ZjJ2a2Z4YnU4NWkz&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EsrfHfsjC/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-donnell-1ba033293?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kreativelyykayy?si=RYbNPMP4lXG6mDkR
- Other: https://1500entertainment.com/
